Tag: Mr Crawls

5534. Cumberland Basin

Mr Crawls, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, September 2023
Mr Crawls, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, September 2023

Demonstrating that he is not a one-trick pony, Mr Crawls has painted this ‘stripped back’ version of one of his bird characters. Painted on a pink background, the chrome and black piece is quite unlike his other work, and shows the artist playing around with his characters.

Mr Crawls, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, September 2023
Mr Crawls, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, September 2023

I am very much enjoying Mr Crawls birds cropping up all over the city, and likening the way that he is switching things up from time to time. It is interesting to see that he has started signing his work, and I wonder if that is something to do with his level of confidence, or maybe even starting to market his brans a little. Unusual and enjoyable.

5502. M32 roundabout J3 (511)

Mr Crawls, M32 roundabout, Bristol, Agust 2023
Mr Crawls, M32 roundabout, Bristol, Agust 2023

Mr Crawls’ work is always a pleasure to find, but not only that, there is a sense of fun with each of his bird characters, and the effect his pieces have on me is similar to the sensation I get when I find anything by Mr Underbite. Their concepts, although with different characters, have many similarities, and both present their heroes with a certain amount of pathos.

Mr Crawls, M32 roundabout, Bristol, Agust 2023
Mr Crawls, M32 roundabout, Bristol, Agust 2023

I am a bit disappointed that I didn’t get to photograph this one a little sooner because it has been tagged a little and it looks like some posters were plastered over the top of it too. This character is a goose wearing a rather warm looking hat. I imagine that the goose is resting from a cold weather migration – he reminds me a little of a WWII pilot, if you know what I mean. Nicely conceived and painted – lots more from the artist in my archives.

5434. Brunel Way (224)

Mr Crawls, Brunel Way, Bristol, August 2023
Mr Crawls, Brunel Way, Bristol, August 2023

It turns out that Mr Crawls is much more than a one trick pony, as I suspected, and has been painting different variants of his bird portrait mega-tags. The first one to appear in Natural Adventures was a Gull called Gul, then a parrot. This fun bird is ‘The Goose’.

Mr Crawls, Brunel Way, Bristol, August 2023
Mr Crawls, Brunel Way, Bristol, August 2023

The Goose can be identified by the shape of his beak, his rather droopy eyes, and a distinctive winter hat with ear flaps. The cartoon character has been painted beautifully with clean lines and strong solid fills. I have the set of three birds so far, and plenty of unpublished gulls… I wonder what other designs Mr Crawls might have up his sleeve.

5381. St Werburghs tunnel (373)

Mr Crawls, St Werburghs, Bristol, May 2023
Mr Crawls, St Werburghs, Bristol, May 2023

This is the second piece I have published by Mr Crawls, and as I said in the last post, he tends to paint the same ‘mega tag’ each time he paints. The cartoon-style bird, looking slightly worse for wear, is difficult to identify and in my own mind I have it down as a gull of some kind, but it might simply be a generic bird. This one is actually a parrot.

Mr Crawls, St Werburghs, Bristol, May 2023
Mr Crawls, St Werburghs, Bristol, May 2023

In this version, the Parrot is once again wearing a bucket/tourist hat, but a slightly different style. It is with the hat design that Mr Crawls has most scope for varying the piece and making it distinct from other versions. There re several more gulls in my archive, but I think I will need to collect them together into a single post, in the same way that I have done for Asre, Bogat and Klashwhensober.

5365. Sparke Evans Park (73)

Mr Crawls, Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, June 2023
Mr Crawls, Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, June 2023

In the spring of this year, I became aware of some seagull (these days simply known as gulls) portraits appearing in most of the north Bristol graffiti spots. I haven’t posted any until now, because I wasn’t sure who was responsible for them. It turns out (with thanks to Paul H) that the artist is called Mr Crawls.

Mr Crawls, Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, June 2023
Mr Crawls, Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, June 2023

The gull, which has a very pleasing design formed out of a couple of circles, fits into the kind of mega-tag category, in which the basic design changes little from piece to piece, and the stamp/brand becomes highly recognisable – other artists who do this include TES (Slim Pickings), Asre and Mr Underbite. The gull looks like he is a little worse for wear, and rather American in his fishing-style bucket hat. Expect to see more from Mr Crawls.